The Impeachment : A Formal Process

The president is given seven major roles with many rules and restrictions in place. If he does not follow these rules he can be tried for impeachment. Impeachment was set up by the founders in the case that an unfit president was elected. The constitution states, “The president, vice president and all civil officers of the united states, shall be removed from on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors” (Doc A). This states the ways a president can be charged for impeachment.

The power of the governor of Texas isn’t as powerful as many other states. There was a study done by two professors, Thad Beyle and Margaret Ferguson, and it showed that Texas tied 39th with four other in the overall institutional powers of the governor. The Texas governor must share the budget making responsibility with others. The Secretary of State is the only official appointed by the Governor.

The Texas legislature is the dominant branch of state government within the state constitutional framework of separation of powers. “Under the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the legislature, as representative of the people of Texas, exercises plenary powers, limited only by the Texas and United States constitutions and valid federal laws” (Texas Legislature). In the 1845-1879 Texas statehood constitution, which laid out the basic legislative framework established the bicameral legislature, which contains the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives is formed by forty-five to ninety members, which are elected form counties, cities, or towns for two-year terms. The House of Reps. originated from the British House of Commons, which has the exclusive right to create taxes and spend that revenue, which is considered the ultimate check on royal authority. Therefore, “All bills for revenue shall be originated in the House of Representatives…” (U.S. Constitution), in reference to the fiscal policy. A fiscal policy is the means by which a government adjusts its spending levels and tax rates to

The Texas legislature, as stated by Champagne, Harpham, & Casellas, is a bicameral legislature compromised of two chambers. That is, the Senate and the Texas House of Representatives (2017, p. 211). It includes 31 senators and 150 House members. The legislature serves as the most critical establishment that aids in representing the state (Champagne et al., 2017, p.211). Members of the Texas state legislature must meet the essential requirements, perform their duties to the best of their ability, represent citizens, and attend sessions.

The Texas Legislature has powers either by non-legislative power or legislative power. The legislative power includes power that can be passed by bills and resolutions, and non-legislative powers by functions falling outside the lawmaking function. In general the Texas Legislatures responsibilities are to set public policy by passing bills and resolutions. It supervises the state bureaucracy through the budgetary process and the Sunset Act, this act provides review and termination of state agencies. The Texas Constitution sets Legislative power in two houses, a Senate of 31 members and a House of Representatives of no more than 150 members. The Texas Constitution stipulates the terms of the office and qualifications, for example House members

The state bureaucracy administers/implements the laws of Texas. It is run by executives whose job is to see that the laws of the state are implemented according to the will and intent of the Legislature. Ideally, these executive branch officials or bureaucrats are to administer their duties and implement the laws in a neutral manner, uninfluenced by politics. In reality, state bureaucrats are important players in not just implementation, but also policy making. In Texas, there is no overall central governing or controlling authority. Government authority in Texas is very decentralized, and rests within many independent state agencies.

The state of Texas was birthed through conflicts over land, which resulted in tensions between Mexico and the Republic of Texas reaching a boiling point. Having declared their independence from Mexico, the Republic of Texas needed to establish some form of structure to be able to run and function as a Government (Newell et al. 40). The Republic of Texas constitution is setup to almost mirror the United States constitution, while having varying differences. In order to keep each branch of government honest, they were separated and needed to work with each other to reach common ground or come to an agreement. The three branches of government each have their own functions to help the

Throughout the years, many scholars and politicians have perceived the legalistic interpretation of impeachment, as a legal process, due to the legal proceedings that take place. The legal proceeding of impeachment includes the House of Representatives (draws the charges towards the president and makes the decision of incitement), the Senate (takes an oath to become the jury at the hearing and decides on whether or not to convict), and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (who acts as a judge during the hearing). During the process, the legal teams are trying to make the argument of

One major cutback in power for the governor in Texas is the fact that the governor, and lieutenant governor, must share their power with four department heads. These department heads are elected officials. Another way the governor’s power is limited is by a need for a two-thirds majority from each house of the legislature to remove a judge. It is almost like the framers of the 1876 Constitution did not trust the previous governor to run government with righteous intent. They made the chief executive work within and out of government to accomplish agendas. Moving on to the legislative branch, this branch of government was reduced in power and authority in ways similar to the governor. Salaries were lowered and terms were reduced, at least for Representatives. However, even Senators must randomly choose at least half of their members to receive only a two-year term. Perhaps the reason for this is to give legislators some time to get experience about the legislative process and yet also have fresh ideas and agendas. Most likely the most prominent way the legislature is leashed back is the biennial legislative sessions. This allows government to be slower when dealing with issues and was conceived for that express purpose by the framers of the 1876 Constitution. In the individualistic tradition, people should take care of themselves and not relay on legislators to make new laws to try to fix whatever problems people have. Lastly, the judicial branch. The judicial

The first article, written by Robert T. Garret for the Dallas News, explains the conflict between Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Director of the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) Ursula Parks over budgetary powers. It seems that governor Abbott’s power of vetoing or in-line vetoing budget bills is the only power the governor currently has, and the budget board members and state legislatures are ignoring it. According to the article, as governor Abbott is pushing

For the first time in the United States History, President Andrew Johnson, was the first sitting president to be impeachment from office. President Johnson was sworn into office after President Lincoln was assassinated. Like former President Lincoln, Johnson, felt that the country should have been ran by the white man. In fact, Johnson wanted to carry out former President Lincoln’s leniency more. Shortly after becoming president, President Johnson granted wholesome pardons to the ex-confederates. Allowing the Former confederates the right to have slaves in every way but call them slaves. The Confederate states forcing the slaves to sign year long contracts or face forced enslavement. They called this “The Black Codes,” which controlled the

The first Texas Legislature met in 1846 and has only had a few changes. It is a bicameral legislature that has two chambers which include the Texas Senate, with 31 senators and the House of Representatives, with 151 House members. The responsibility of the legislators includes promoting their constituent’s concerns and issues by addressing them during the sessions.

The impeachment of President Clinton is something that will be remembered forever. Along with the fact that a presidential impeachment has only happened one other time since the Civil War, the publicity that came with the Clinton trial was extensive (Miller 2004). While the Republican and Democratic members of the House of Representatives had vastly different views on impeaching President Clinton, the fact that only five Democratic Representatives voted to impeach him truly shows how wide that gap was between the two parties. Clinton was impeached on the grounds of perjury to a grand jury and obstruction of justice, with the vote on both articles extremely close, a 228-206 vote on perjury to a

The legislative branch is considered the most powerful branch of the rest because of the amount of power and control it has on the government, it consists of the Texas State Senate and the House of Representatives. Even though this branch is considered the post dominant it has restrictions. These are 5 restrictions and limits that this branch has. 1) The Texas Legislative Branch does not meet every year, it meets every 2 years and only for 140 days. However, the governor of Texas has the authority to call other meeting in between their regular scheduled time. 2) Article III section 58 of the Texas Constitution says “the Legislature shall hold its sessions at the city of Austin, which is hereby declared to be the Seat of Government.” 3) Article III section 57 of the Texas constitution says that “no local or special law shall be passed, unless notice of the intention to apply therefor shall have been published in the

Texas Legislature met for the 85th time last spring since statehood. The Texas Legislature passed several laws from State budget, protecting children, schools, sanctuary cities, and many more, at the same time some laws where not passed.